Feeding device for tobacco-leaves.



J. C. BUCHANAN.

FEEDING DEVICE FOR TOBACCO LEAVES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC- 9} 1914.

Patented Mar. 13, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1- J. C. BUCHANAN.

FEEDING DEVICE FOR TOBACCO LEAVES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-9.1914.

Patented Mar. 13, 1917.

= 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- ill-:11

fllllllllllllllllll LEI-IE 3 "iilllllllll Inventor J. C. BUCHANAN.

FEEDING DEVICE FOR TOBACCO LEAVES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-$1914.

1 ,21 9,077. Patented Mar. 13, 1917.-

s SHEETS-SHEET 3.

M 5 My UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES C. BUCHANAN, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR TORAPID TOBACCO STEMMER 00., OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION OFDELA- WARE.

FEEDING DEVICE FOR TOBACCO-LEAVES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 13, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, James C. BUCHANAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at \Vashington, in the District of Columbia, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Feeding Devices for Tobacco-Leaves; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention consists in the novel features hereinafter described withreference to the accompanying drawings in which I have illustrated oneform -in which my invention may be embodied, and said invention is fullydisclosed in the following description and claims.

Referring to the said drawings,

Figure l is a perspective view of a feeding apparatus embodying myinvention and showing the different stages in the turning of a tobaccoleaf from a horizontal to a vertical position.

Fig, 2 is a top plan view of the same, a

portion of one of the feed belts being broken away.

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional View taken on line 33 of Fig.2.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical sectional View taken on line 1-4 ofFig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective showing a portion of the delivery chainandlateral guide which cooperates therewith'for feed ing the leaves fromthe leaf turning mechanism to the stemming mechanism.

The object of my invention is to provide a device for feeding tobaccoleaves to a stemming machine, or for other purposes, in which the leavesmay be arranged upon a horizontal table from which they are carried acertain distance apart and turned into a vertical plane and held at adesired angle to a vertical plane extending transversely of their lineof travel, or otherwise delivered from the feeding mechanism.

Further objects of my invention are to provide means which will operateon said leaves to insure the accurate feeding and turning of the same,and which will prevent the leaves from slipping while being turned anddelivered to the stemmer.

In the embodiment of my invention shown in the drawings, 1 represents ahorizontal feed table, supported in any desired manner and provided witha longitudinally extending conveyer 2, which may be formed of a beltpassing around rollers 3, 4:, the former being the'driving roller andthe latter being an idler. Adjacent to the inner edge of'the conveyer 2and parallel thereto I arrange an auxiliary carrier, consisting of acard clothing belt 5, or other carrying device, which is mounted uponthe pulleys 6, 7, carried by the shafts 8 and 9, upon which the rollers3 is of greater length than the belt 16, which permits theoperator toplace the butts of the leaves upon the belt 5, by which they areconveyed to the belt 16, A card clothing surface 17 is provided upon theinner end of the roller 3 to engage a portion of the tobacco leaf andprevent the same from slipping during the turning of thesame, thusfacilitating the accurate feeding of the leaves.

The upper lap of the belt 5 rests preferably ina longitudinal slot orrecess 5 in the feed table 1, so that the teeth of the card clothingbelt 5 project a short distance above the top of the table. The belts 5and 16 are driven at substantially the same speed as the conveyer 2, andin feeding tobacco leaves, the belts 5 and 16 engage the butt or stemportions of the leaves a short distance from.

their ends, the leafy portions or tails lying upon the conveyer 2, andin the case of very long leaves extending beyond the same on the sidetoward the operator.

18 represents a head guide which is provided upon. said table and isarranged at such a distance from the auxiliary carrier as"- to insurethat the leaves are unlformly engaged by the belts 5 and 16 at theproper oint. In feeding the operator is assisted y this guide in gettingthe leaves in such position that the butt ends will be practically even.

Between the belts 5' and 16 of the auxiliary carrier and the cardclothing surface 17 of the pulley 3, I arrange a yielding guide 19 whichpreferably consists of a fiat strip of sheet metal having a smoothbottom edge. This guide 19 is supported by a bracket 20 so as to becapable of vertical movement against the tension of springs 21 carriedby said brackets and is adapted to engage that portion of the leafadjacent the butt end, whereby said butt end will be held while theoperation of turning is taking place.

The belts 5 and 16 are driven as hereinafter described, at acomparatively slow rate ofspeed, so that the operator can take a numberof leaves at a time, aline the butts with the head guide 18, flattenthem upon the table and slide them forward over the teeth of the belt 5,at a much greater speed than the belt 5 travels. As soon as the operatorreleases the leaves their stems are gripped by the teeth of the belt 5and they are carried along by the auxiliary conveyer, the tails beingcarried by the conveyer 2, leaving the operators hands free to graspanother quantity of leaves and slide them along over the belt 5, up tothe last one of the previous lot, and so on keeping a' continuous. rowof leaves between the belts5 and 16, which form a magazine, as it were,and enable the operator by intermittently placing a number of leaves inthe feed, to effect a practically continuous feed of the leavestherefrom.

As the tail portions of the leaves leave the forward end of the conveyer2, they are turned downwardly by means of a conical roller 22, which ismounted upon the inner end of the shaft 11 and is moved with said shaft.This conical roller 22 insures the quick turning of the leaf from thehorizontal to verticalposition so that it can be grasped by the deliverymechanism, hereinafter described, in a vertical position, and duringturning, the roughened surface 17 of the roller 3 positively grips theleafy portion of the leaf and thereby prevents the leaf from slippingdownwardly and also insures the proper length of the leaf buttprojecting abovethe chain 23.

The delivery mechanism comprises a chain 23 which is mounted upon asprocket 24 carried by the shaft 8, and upon another sprocket (notshown) at the delivery end of said delivery mechanism. 'T he links ofthe chain 23 are provided with teeth 25 on their upper faces, and theteeth 25 on one side of the chain form continuations of lateral teeth 26arranged on that side of the chain, and preferably extend downwardly andrearwardly, the angle of the teeth 26 corresponding to the angle atwhich the tobacco leaves are to be delivered, after they are turned froma horizontal 'into a substantially vertical position.

At a certain point above the chain 23 the guide 19 ends, and atsubstantially the same point a lateral guide 27 is arranged adjacent tothe lateral teeth 26, and supported yield ingly as by spring pressedrods 28, 28 and brackets 29, 29. The end of guide 27, adjacent the guide19 is bent upwardly so as to engage the leaves on the upper side and atone side of the chain 23, thus bending the butts down at the point ofcontact, simultaneously with the downward bending of the tails by theconical roller 22' and throwing said leaves quickly into a substantiallyver tical position, in front of the lateral teeth 26. The forwardmovement of the chain 23 and the friction of the lateral guide 27 causeseach leaf to aline itself with the forward inclined face of the tooth 26with which it is in contact, thus presenting each leaf to. the stemmingmachine at the desired angle, determined by the angle of the tooth 26.To facilitate a firm gripping of the butts of the leaves between thechain 23 and the guide 27 and to insure the gripping of leaf butts'ofall thicknesses, the lateral teeth are provided with grooves 30 in whichthe inner edge of the guide 27 rests. The leaves will also extend abovethe chain 23 a uniform distance, determined by the head guide 18, aswill be clearly understood, so that the butt ends of the leaves may beproperly gripped by the feeding mechanism of the tobacco stemmingmachine.

It will be understood from the foregoing, that at the time the leavesare transferred from the receiving carriers 5 and 16, to the deliverycarrier 23 they will be pressed downwardly by the roller 22 and hangdownward, thereby facilitating the turning that the turning mechanism isarranged 1n close pro'X1m1ty to the auxiliary carrier and conveyer sothat the stems are positively held by the auxiliary carrier until theturning action commences. This arrangement prevents any slipping of theleaves during the turning action and thereby insures the leaves beingfed to the stemming machine in the proper position, as determined bysaid headguide.

The various parts of the apparatus may be driven in any desired way, andin the present drawings I have shown the driving shaft 8, which may bedriven from the stemming machine through the medium of the sprocketchain 31, which is merely a preferred construction. The shaft 8 has agear 32 which meshes with a gear 33 upon 1-5 the major portions of theleaves horizontally; an auxiliary carrying mechanism for engaging theleaves near their butt ends, means for turning the leaves fromhorlzontal to vertical positlon, one of said rollers be 2 ing providedwith a roughened surface for positively engaging the leaves near theirbutt portions to prevent any slipping of the same during such turningmovement, anda delivery mechanism for conveying said leaves after the)have been turned.

2. A feeding device for leaves comprising a feed table, a plurality ofrollers provided on said table, an endless conveyer provided upon saidrollers for supporting and moving the major portions of the leaveshorizontally, an auxiliary carrying mechanism for engaging the leaves attheir-butts, means for turning the leaves from a horizontal to avertical position, a card clothing surface 4 provided upon the inner end'of one of said rollers for positively engaging the leaves near theirbutt portions to prevent any slipping of the same during such turningmovement, and a delivery mechanism for con- 40 .veying said leaves afterthey have been turned. a

3. A feeding device for leaves, comprising a feed table, a conveyer forsupporting and moving the major portions of-the leaves horizontally, anauxiliary carrying mecha nism consisting of a plurality of card clothingbelts for engaging the butts of the leaves, the supporting surface ofone belt being extended beyond the other for receivingthe leaves, aplurality of rollers upon which said conveyer is mounted, means forturning said leaves from horizontal to vertical position, one of therollers being provided with a roughened surface for positively engagingthe leaves near their butt portions to prevent any slipping of the sameduring such turning movement, and a delivery mechanism for conveyingsaid leaves after they have been turned.

4. A feeding device for leaves comprising a feed table, a conveyer forsupporting and 7 moving the major portions of the leaves, an

auxiliary carrying mechanism arranged adjacent to one edge of saidconveyer and consisting of a plurality of card clothing leavessimultaneously with said butt turnbelts for engaging and conveying thebutt ends of the leaves, the supporting surface of one belt beingextended beyond the other for receiving the leaves, a delivery mechanismfor conveying said leaves after they leave the conveyer and carrier,means for turning the butt ends of the leaves as they are delivered tosaid delivery mechanism, and means for positively engaging and 'turningthe major portions of the leaves simultaneously with the turning of'thebutts by the butt turning means.

5. A feeding device for leaves comprising means for conveying the leaveshorizontally, means for engaging and turning the butts of the leavesfrom horizontal to vertical position, means comprising a conical rollerfor positively engaging and turning the major portions of the leavessimultaneously with the turning of the buttsbythe butt turn- 5 ingmechanism, and a delivery device for conveying said leaves after theyhave been turned. i

6. A feed device for leaves, comprising a feed table, a plurality ofrollers provided on said table, an endless conveyer provided upon saidrollers for supporting and moving the major portions of said leaveshorizontally, an auxlllary carrylng mechanism for engaging and conveyingthe butts of the leaves, I

one of said rollers being provided with a roughened surface forpositively engaging the leaves near their butt portions to prevent anyslipping of the same, a delivery device for conveying said leaves afterthey leave said conveyer and carrier, a turning mechanism for turningthe butts of the leaves, and means for positively engaging and turningthe major portions of the leaves simultaneously with the turning of thebutts by the butt turning mechanism.

7. A feeding device for leaves, comprising a feed table, a plurality ofrollers provided on said table, an endless conveyer provided upon saidrollers for supporting and moving the major portions of said leaves, anauxiliary carrying device arranged adjacent to one edge of said conveyerfor engaging the leaves near their butt ends, one of said rollers beingprovided with a roughened surface for positively engaging the portionsof the tails of said leaves near their butt ends, a delivery device forconveying said leaves after they leave said conveyer and carrier, aturning device for turning the butt ends 120 of the leaves arranged inclose proximity to said carrier, and means for positively engaging andturning the tail portions of said ing device, said tail turning meansconsist- 1-25 ing of a conical roller arranged adjacent to? the feedingend of said conveyer.. 8. In a feeding device for leaves, a deliverydevice comprising a chain provided with vertical teeth, the verticalteeth on one side of said chain being continuations of lateral teeth,grooves provided in said lateral teeth, and a lateral guide, the inneredge of which rests in said grooves for positively gripping the leafbutts between the lateral teeth and guide.

9. A feeding device for leaves comprising means for feeding the leavesin a horizontal position, means for engaging the butts of the leaves andturning the same from horizontal to vertical position, means forpositively engaging and turning the major portions of the leavessimultaneously with the operation of the butt engaging device, and adelivery device for conveying said leaves in a verticalposition afterthey have been turned.

10. The combination with a leaf feeding device having a. horizontalconveyer, a delivery mechanism and a turning device for turning theleaves from horizontal to vertical position, of means adapted toengagethe major portions of the leavesfor preventing the leaves fromslipping during the turning of the same. 11A. In a leaf feedingmechanism, the combination with means for feeding the leaves inhorizontal position, of means for turning the leaves from horizontal tovertical position, means adapted to positively engage the bodies of theleaves for preventing the same from slipping during the turning of thesame, and a delivery device for conveying the leaves after they havebeen turned, said delivery device consisting of an endless chain and alateral guide, the teeth of said chain having grooves with which saidguide cooperates.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in the presence of twowitnesses.

JAMES o. BUCHANAN.

Witnesses:

J. K. MOORE, R. E. BARRY.

